How materials science has changed humankind — for better and worse
The Alchemy of Us explores how new technologies have altered humans and society
![Steel production](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/042520_EC_review_alchemy_feat.jpg?fit=1028%2C579&ssl=1)
Advances in materials science have altered human society, as chronicled in The Alchemy of Us. Improved production of steel, for example, paved the way for railroads that linked far-flung cities and for accurate clocks that led to a new obsession with time.
maki_shmaki/iStock/Getty Images Plus